According to journalist Ioan Grillo, the Medellín cartel smuggled most of its cocaine straight over the Florida coast.

"It was a nine-hundred-mile run from the north coast of Colombia and was simply wide-open. The Colombians and their American counterparts would airdrop loads of blow out to sea, from where it would be rushed ashore in speedboats, or even fly it right onto the Florida mainland and let it crash down in the countryside," Grillo wrote.

The "King of Cocaine" factored in a $2.1 billion loss in profits each month, but that didn't really matter.

Escobar's immense wealth became problematic when he couldn't launder his cash quickly enough. He resorted to stashing piles of cash in Colombian farming fields, dilapidated warehouses, and in the walls of cartel members' homes, according to Roberto Escobar, the cartel's chief accountant and the kingpin's brother, in his book "The Accountant's Story: Inside the Violent World of the Medellín Cartel."

"Pablo was earning so much that each year we would write off 10% of the money because the rats would eat it in storage or it would be damaged by water or lost," Escobar wrote.

That would be about $2.1 billion, given how much money he was reportedly making. Escobar simply had more money than he knew to do with, so haphazardly losing money to rodents and mold wasn't an issue.

He cut a deal with Colombia to be imprisoned, but in a luxurious prison he built and named "La Catedral" — the cathedral.

In 1991, Escobar was incarcerated in his self-designed prison he named "La Catedral." In the terms of his agreement with the Colombian government, Escobar was allowed to select who was imprisoned with him and who worked in the prison. He could also continue to run his cartel business and receive visitors.

La Catedral was equipped with a soccer field, barbecue pit, and patios and it was nearby another compound he built for his family. Also, the Colombian authorities were not allowed within 3 miles of his prison.